Heitkamp to Bloomberg: How ’bout you do you, and leave North Dakota out of it

posted at 7:31 pm on March 27, 2013 by Erika Johnsen

While I’m sure there are plenty of Democrats who are amply appreciative of NYC Mayor Bloomberg’s aggressive brand of “I do think there are certain times we should infringe on your freedom”-style governance, the nanny-state progressivism-on-steroids approach is somewhat less welcome to others. Red-state Democrat Heidi Heitkamp, for instance, isn’t too keen on Bloomy trying to push her into complying with his own gun-related views rather than those of her constituents:

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) criticized New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s federal gun control push on Tuesday, advising the mayor that he should be more worried about gun violence in his own city than in North Dakota, the Grand Forks Herald reported.

“North Dakota continues to have one [of] the highest rates of gun ownership and lowest incidences of gun crime in the country,” Heitkamp said in a statement. “Yet New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg insists on taking gun-driven crime statistics in his city and from other major cities and trying to force those numbers into a narrative that just does not fit North Dakota.” …

Her statement came in response to the recent $12 million ad buy from Mayors Against Illegal Guns, pushing senators in key states — including Heitkamp — to support such gun control legislation as comprehensive background checks. Bloomberg, who co-founded Mayors Against Illegal Guns in 2006 and is personally financing the ad campaign, is spending roughly $156,000 in North Dakota.

“Frankly, there are far better uses for Mayor Bloomberg’s $156,000 than buying ads attacking a way of life he clearly does not understand,” Heitkamp wrote.

“I wouldn’t expect Mayor Bloomberg to follow my advice on how to run a major east coast city of over 8 million people, and I don’t plan to follow his advice on what is best for North Dakotans,” added Heitkamp, whose state has about 700,000 inhabitants.

Boom. Heitkamp has already bucked President Obama on the gun debate, and as she notes here, North Dakota has a high rate of gun ownership and yet somehow is a far cry from being a big source of deadly crime — Bloomberg’s logic really doesn’t apply, and he shouldn’t presume to try (especially when he can’t even manage to demonstrate what gun safety and responsibility is supposed to look like in a planned-out advertising campaign, for goodness’ sake).